Untapped Power
by OlfactorySensation
Summary: Set mid-OotP, Harry finds a ray of hope in vanquishing the Dark Lord. He and his friends set out to meet with a mysterious man promising to make them more powerful than any wizard alive.
1. Chapter 1

Harry walked among his students in the Room of Requirement, stopping every so often to correct someone's wand work. The lessons had started almost three months prior and since, the D.A. had become a formidable opponent. Neville had took charge when Harry, Ron, and Hermione had left on some paper trail they thought would lead them closer to the Dark Lord, but it always ended in a false positive.

As the last lesson of the semester wound to a close, Harry moved to the front of the class to tell them what he had been keeping a secret.

"It's been so much fun being able to learn and teach alongside you all, but I am afraid this is the last D.A. meeting I will be teaching. Everyone started talking at once. Red sparks flew from Harry's wand, and everyone quieted down again. "I know it not what you all want; it's not what I want truthfully, but I can't stay here anymore, Hogwarts, I mean. I've tried to keep it secret, but the time for secrecy has passed. I think I've found a way to kill Voldemort." Harry didn't get to finish the Dark Lord's name before the entire room erupted in a roar of questions that refused to be silenced even by Harry's profuse sparks.

Finally, Hermione shot a loud boom out of the tip of her wand, the sound reverberating around the magic room. Everyone looked back at her expectantly, but she just kept looking at Harry waiting for him to start talking again.

"Thank you, Hermione. Now I know that you all have a lot of questions, and I want to answer them, but even if I could, I don't think it's a smart idea. The three of us," Harry said, gesturing to Ron and Hermione, "have been looking for a way to thwart Voldemort for this entire semester, but we hadn't been able to find anything out in the meager supply of Dark Arts books in the Hogwarts library. So, we decided we'd have to look somewhere else which is where we've been going the times we weren't at the D.A. meetings.

"In this place, we found a very thick and dusty book. Its author wrote about a way to manipulate the energies of the world to augment the power of our spells. Previously, we'd been bound to how strong our magical cores were, something we couldn't really change, but now, we have the power to be stronger than Voldemort, Dumbledore even. All we have to do is go learn."

At this point, Cho raised her hand in the lapse of talking amid the stunned audience. "Can't we come? We've learned so much from you these past few months. There's no way Voldemort could stop us all if you led us into battle. We'd be unstoppab—" Cho said before being cut off by Harry.

"No, you all can't come. I wanted you all to come for so long, but after thinking it through, I've decided that it's too dangerous. There's a good chance that the three of us won't even make it back, and I can't have your all's blood on my hands. I just don't want anyone else to die," Harry said, stopping before his voice cracked. A lone tear glistened as it slid down his cheek.

The moment lasted for what seemed like minutes before Ron thought better than to showcase his best friend's emotions to everyone. "All right, all right. Let's all get out of here before Filch sniffs us out." Harry still stood in front of everyone as they milled about in stunned silence, too overwhelmed at the actual opportunity of _winning_ the war. Eventually the crowd started to trickle through the door with hushed whispers of what Harry meant in harnessing power.

At last, the room was empty except for Harry and his two friends. He looked at them expectantly, but they said nothing. He saw the fear in their eyes and felt his own, but was not about to play coy. "So, are we ready to go?"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

The three had agreed to meet in the common room at midnight. As the clocked ticked ever closer, Harry lay in his bed, eyes open. His mind whirred thinking of all that could go wrong. Already they had run into a problem earlier that night in planning out which tunnel they planned to leave from. Supposedly there had been a cave-in, or so the Weasley twins had told them when they asked as nonchalantly as they could. While Harry was consumed on whether they had made the right choice, Ron was up and moving, sliding on his shoes before noticing his friend hadn't gotten up yet.

"Come on, Harry. Hermione will be waiting for us," the red-headed boy whispered not wanting to wake up their roommates. Harry slid out of bed already dressed. They tiptoed their way to the door, lightly pushing it open, praying it didn't squeak.

They made it down to the common room to find Hermione waiting impatiently by the fireplace.

"You two are late! What were you all doing? I hope you didn't throw off our plan," Hermione chastised. The two walked up to her not bothering to try to defend their case.

"Let's go," Harry said, unfolding the invisibility cloak from under his arm and throwing it over them. It was barely long enough to cover them now, an ankle sometimes slipping out if someone stepped too far. The three hurried to the portrait hole eager to be off.

The hallways were dark and silent to their perked ears. A slight rustle would make them all stop before going on, assuring each other it was just their robes.

"But what if Dumbledore found out somehow? What if he's waiting for us?" Ron said to the otherwise quiet group.

"We stick to the plan," Harry said confident, feeling all but.

The three reached the suit of armor that hid their secret passage. Hermione rose her wand, quietly saying the incantation as they watched the metal silently move through the air, uncovering a trapdoor. She bent down to open it, tugging on it before standing back up.

"It's stuck," Hermione said out of breath. Harry and Ron tried pulling on it, too, but to no avail. Shrugging off the cloak, they redoubled their efforts, intent on opening the sealed door before Hermione raised her wand. The boys stood back, readying themselves for her impressive bit of magic as her mouth began forming the words only to hear an entirely different voice.

"Not going anywhere, are we?" said an oily voice. The three turned around to be greeted by Professor Snape. His pale face was only half illuminated. The other half sat in shadow, hidden from the view of the three rulebreakers.

They each looked at each other, trying to move their heads as little as possible so Snape wouldn't notice. Harry nodded almost imperceptibly before they each had their wands drawn all three shouting "Stupefy!" at the same time. The red lights dashed across the corridor to their potion professor's surprised face. Almost instantly he dodged the first and blocked the second, but Harry's spell moved _just_ too fast for him as it struck him in the chest.

His eyes rolled back as he fell to the floor, the three standing there dumbfounded.

"We are going to be in some bloody deep shit if someone finds us here," Ron said finally before Hermione dashed over to Snape to obliviate him. Harry and Ron sat restless, anxiously looking up and down the corridor expecting someone to find them.

"Hurry up, Hermione," Harry said, before the bushy head girl nearly bowled him over trying to run to the trap door. She slashed her wand up suddenly nearly taking her ginger friend's eye out to his exclamation. The trapdoor popped up at Hermione's spell, and the three jumped down.

"Lumos," Harry said, lighting up the pitch-black tunnel. The walls were caked in black soot, undoubtedly some mishap of the Weasley twins.

Harry led the way into the darkness, holding his wand high to illuminate the curving tunnel. The three of them walked in silence till they had to get on their stomachs to shimmy through a particularly tight portion of the tunnel at which point Ron's grumbles broke the quiet.

"Relax, we're almost there. Look, you can see the light up ahead," Hermione said, pointing forward. _And it was true_ , Harry thought, _they were getting close, but the end of the tunnel only meant the start of their true journey_.

Eventually, the light was directly overhead, and the three stood around a rickety wooden ladder leading up to The Three Broomsticks' cellar.

"Just follow my lead," Harry said before climbing the rungs and pushing up the trapdoor above them. He cracked it just barely, looking around to make sure no one was there to see them. He looked down at the other two and motioned for them to follow him up. The steps leading up to the tavern creaked as an employee came down to grab a cask. The three ran to hide, each squished behind a different barrel. Silently they sat still as the shuffling footsteps walked around the cellar. After what felt like hours, the sound of the man walking up the stairs and closing the door signaled them to let out their pent-up breath. They each stepped out gingerly, still afraid of being caught by an invisible foe, but they were alone.

Making their way to the door, Harry paused before quickly opening it and letting his two friends come out behind him. He shut the door and blinked. The bright lights and smoky atmosphere was a shock after the long tunnel. They filed towards the door, keeping their eyes ahead as everyone else's followed them. Without incident, they stepped out into the cold December air. Harry pulled his cloak tighter.

"Let's get to his house before dark. I don't think I want to see the nightlife where we're going," Harry said darkly as the sun waned, having crossed its apex hours ago.

Mulling over what he would say when he reached his house, Harry almost forgot to look where he was going as his feet unknowingly led him to his destination. His footsteps wound in wide curves, never in a straight line as his friends followed unwittingly, deeply engrossed in similar thoughts.

He blinked.

He was standing in front of the house where he was promised unparalleled power. Ron and Hermione behind him were just noticing that they had stopped walking when they looked to see where they were.

The three stood in silence next to each other, their breath freezing as it floated from their mouths. The winter landscape was quiet, not even the birds chirping. The sun had just eclipsed the trees before Harry spoke.

"Shall we meet our maker?"


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Harry walked into the house first. The door seemed to close behind them of its own volition. A grizzled voice from the shadows spoke then, not any understandable phrase but an obvious incantation. The room hummed with the power of his words, and all seemed to hang still in time till a single sound broke through.

A beam of light brighter than the sun flooded behind Harry's eyes, blinding him in a binding white light. He blearily blinked. His vision cleared somewhat to reveal a wild landscape of untamed forest and creatures not of earth.

He looked around, eyes darting from place to place. Everywhere his gaze went, a new and unexpected sight awaited, but something was wrong. There was a darkness in the sky above, a cloud among the bright sunshine and rays of light. Harry stared up at it for a time before looking back down. He realized then it was not a place of light he was standing in but darkness. The horizon stretched far in any direction he looked, but it was where he stood that darkness lay creeping in the heavens.

Internally asking why, an answer came to him echoing from the chiseled trees and reverberating soil.

"This world is not the only one, Harry Potter. Do not be consumed by the task at hand for you are destined for far greater things than defeating Voldemort. There shall be bigger evils in your times to come. This I have seen. Trust me, child, and let me guide you into the way of light."

The voice echoed to silence before the world faded back to the dingy house that stood upon the edge of Hogsmeade.

"You all saw that too, right?" Harry asked fervently. His companions looked back at him quizzically, somewhat different than how he'd expect them to react. Their faces froze in this position, as did the flame in the fireplace.

Again, the voice spoke, "Realize this, Harry Potter. The world I took you to and the world you are in are not so different. There are channels among them and places where all is connected, yet you worry with what is near. Reach, child. Reach beyond your world." And the voice ended, but instead of again fading to 'reality,' it went to black. An implied instruction: find your way home.

Spots of light danced in Harry's field of view, some brighter and some too faint to see, yet he knew they were there. The lights, he assumed, were universes, entire worlds where all was left bare of life and wild magic ran free. Even from so far away, their tendrils of power could be felt dancing upon the cosmic field he stood.

He began walking towards the light nearest him, its size quickly becoming apparent as it began to dwarf all other things in his field of view. Still he walked till he reached a bubble.

Harry blinked. It was not supposed to be so hard. And so, he poked it and prodded it till an indentation began to form. Working his way through the universe's hard outer casing, Harry managed to stick his right arm through the ever-growing hole. Then his leg, and then only his head stayed out, clinging to the breath he knew was guaranteed.

"Go," said the voice, and Harry slipped inside.

Harry slowly came to with his friends kneeling around him looking concerned.

"Harry, are you okay?" Hermione asked, wondering if he could even hear her. He blearily turned his head towards the sound before trying to sit up. His body protested at the slight movement before his muscles gave up entirely, and he fell to the floor once more.

"Come on, Ron, help me lift him up," said Hermione grabbing Harry's legs. Ron made to grab Harry by the arms, but stopped before doing so. A shadow had appeared from behind Hermione casting them all in darkness.

"He'll be fine," the man said, stooping to pick Harry up by himself and lay him on the couch a few feet away. "It can happen, sometimes, that people faint if they have a particularly strong reaction to my methods, but it always wears off in a few minutes. Well, except for that one time, but that doesn't really count anyway," he said, drawing concerned looks from Ron and Hermione.

Harry mumbled something out, trying to make a sentence, but his words stayed slurred. His eyes flicked around behind his eyelids. Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glance with each other as the man who had promised them so much stood up and start walking to what Hermione assumed was the kitchen though she wasn't sure. It had been chiseled from looked like solid rock and left unused for a century.

"You two hungry at all? I was just about to start dinner before you all came in," the man asked to Ron's delight.

"Starving, actually!" the red-headed boy exclaimed getting a sharp jab and sideways glare from Hermione.

"Are you crazy?" Hermione whispered exasperated under her breath so the man wouldn't hear, "we hardly know the man and Harry just had what looked like a magical seizure. I could see his eyes glowing behind his eyelids while he was convulsing!" Hermione added as if it starkly put the teacher into an unfavorable group that you certainly did not accept food from.

Ron was of other mind as he gratefully accepted his plate of steaming food, taunting Hermione, swishing the fork in front of her face. By this point, Harry began stirring from his coma before his eyes popped open suddenly. Hermione gasped as she looked at him; Ron dropped his fork to his plate causing a loud clatter.

Harry looked back and forth at them, hoping for an explanation as to why they looked so shocked. When no answer came, he timidly asked, "What?" his voice shaking slightly.

"Your eyes," Hermione let out in a whisper. Harry's stomach tumbled anxiously. _What about my eyes,_ he thought to himself as he jumped up to look in closest mirror. He stared into the reflection for half a second before stepping back suddenly. He looked at his friends dumbfounded before stepping back to the mirror.

A deep blue iris surrounded a black pupil. His face looked same as it always had, but no longer did his mother look at the world through him. A deep galaxy swirled in his orbs that told of unspoken knowledge.

Harry turned to walk back to the couch, too stunned to speak.

"Did you see anything when you fainted?" Hermione asked. Harry nodded slowly, the visions coming back to him.

"There were universes and…" Harry's forehead wrinkled in concentration as he tried to remember more. "I can't remember anything else," he said exasperated after a few minutes of intense silence.

At this the man who had promised to teach them so much walked forward from his spot in the corner. "Bring out your wand and make a light for us all," he said, snuffing out the fireplace. The room was pitched in complete darkness as a shuffle signaled Harry's compliance. "I might cover your eyes, you two," the man added as an afterthought.

"Lumos!" Harry exclaimed, his wand tip exploding in a brighter light than either Ron or Hermione had seen. The small house burst with light from within, the windows screaming with strain as they poured light into the night. Harry looked down at his wand to see it vibrating ever so slightly. It began vibrating more violently till his hand was scalding from the heat it was emitting.

Then black.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Harry was laying in the grass outside the home, the gentle buzz of conversation inside breaking the night's silence. He looked at the stars. _They shine so bright_ , he thought as he watched the blue lights twinkle.

Thinking back to his search that had led him here, he remembered a book about wandless and silent magic, something about the wild forces he seemed to recal. But it wasn't here, or anywhere for that matter. The old library they'd found had been burned down a week ago much to their distraught. Hermione had shed a tear looking at the carnage, but Harry and Ron had only stared.

"I wonder who it was," Harry whispered to himself. A voice not his own responded.

"It was me," it said. The sound lilted on high notes sounding more like song than sentence. Harry turned his head to the noise altogether unbothered by the strange occurrence.

An orange orb of light hovered above the ground. It shimmered slightly. The light illuminated the ground around it as if casting it in fire, yet Harry felt a cool breeze emanating from it. It moved forward slowly, turning itself sideways like a cocked head looking at something strange.

"You are different than the others," it said. Harry stared at it unsure what to say. It said nothing else before playing an instrument Harry had never heard, perhaps its voice, and moving backwards till it faded into the dark forest surrounding him.

Harry laid back down. Things were different since the night he had seen everything. His mind didn't work as it had before, instead distancing itself from emotion and becoming more logical. Hermione and Ron had noticed the first night as they ate dinner. He spoke like he had been alive since the Beginning, though neither of them thought that. It was a primal knowledge buried beneath their conscious. They had known something was different. Harry let the memory fade away.

The door to the house opened before revealing the man who had given him such an odd gift.

"Are you not going to ask me any questions? My name, perhaps, or what happened to you," he said. Harry didn't move. The man looked at him for a second before settling on the grass next to him, laying down a foot away from Harry.

"In truth, I don't think I can answer most of the questions you have," he began, "but I can tell you the history of what I've just performed on you." He moved his arm behind his head as his eyes idly traced the constellations.

"My father taught me the spell. He learned from his father and his before. We have no answer as to its origin only tracing it back ten generations before our records stop. The rest were burned in a fire, or so I was told. I was young when I first learned about my lineage and our role in the events of the world. What I have not told you of myself you shall learn tonight, Harry Potter.

And so, the man's story began lasting long into the night. The fireplace was extinguished in the house as Ron and Hermione slept and the critters of the night grew weary of their songs, but still, the man continued. Harry listened absentmindedly having heard the story before. The winds had spoken of it to him, the rustle of the trees filling in what the tempered gales left out.

As the tendrils of light peaked behind the horizon, the man's voice grew softer. Harry listened closer reflexively to not miss a word.

"My origin is now your burden to bear, but still my identity is hidden." It was true. The world had told him of all but this, Harry just now finding it odd. "I am no wizard, Harry. No wizard could have given you what I have." The trees began shifting, rustling their leaves, though no winds stirred them. The whole forest seemed eager to listen to the secret it had never known.

"I am worlds past and present, stars burning and deceased, the rich soil from which life is born. I am the corporeal universe, Harry Potter."

Harry blinked. Turning his head to look over at the man, he seemed to be able to see past the mirage that had been him. His eyes were not eyes but swirling galaxies. His hands were the stretched elements in space. He was no man, yet he was born of flesh. Harry inquired, but it was his time to be silent.

"Your name," Harry said, "You still have not given me your name." The man smiled.

"My name is incomprehensible to mortals, and though I have given you a gift that has made you more than man or wizard, you have not fully realized its meaning. I cannot give you my name till that day. But for now, you can call me Ray."

The days passed by slowly for Ron and Hermione. Harry and the man spent more time together till the two forgotten friends sat inside, alone for days on end. Adventure was always more fun when you planned it, Ron thought. And though he hadn't said it, Hermione agreed. They had an enemy to fight and friends and family who they had left unawares. What if Voldemort did something while the two walked in the forests?

A week had passed since they had first arrived at the house. The winter had steadily advanced and a thick layer of snow was on the ground. Harry and Ray (they had found out his name in passing one dinner) went on ever longer walks.

"What do you two talk about when you go out for days?" Hermione asked one night when the four of them were gathered in the living room. Harry cocked his head at her uncharacteristically. Ever since Harry had fainted, something had been different about him. Eye color doesn't change someone, Hermione tried to reason with herself, but she couldn't shake the feeling that something was different about him beyond his eyes. She had seen flashes of light and heard strange happenings in the nights when she laid alone in bed.

She had closed her eyes at these, praying she had not lost Harry to whatever malevolent demon they had taken shelter with.

"Not much really," Harry replied. "Ray has taught me a lot about the worlds." The plural was not lost on Hermione's ears.

"Damn right I have," Ray added. "I'd wager you could take out the Voldemort right now if he came through that door." The air left the room as an uncomfortable silence followed the cocky threat. Harry nodded in agreement almost bemused by the thought of killing him. In truth, he had almost forgotten about the pest. The skies were filled with much better game than—.

"You can't be serious. What have you two done that you think you can take out He Who Must Not Be Named?" Ron said, interrupting Harry's thoughts.

"He is really not that powerful, Ron. I've learned a lot from Ray, and if it matters to you all so much, I'll find and kill Voldemort by next week." Ron and Hermione gaped at him.

"He killed your parents," Hermione said quietly as if afraid to stir their rest. Harry's eyes sparked like he had forgotten.

"Yes, well, things like that get smaller to you when you have seen the Grand Timeline," Harry said, returning his attention back to the twisting flames in the fireplace.

"I am not going to sit by and watched my friend be whisked away from me! What have you done to him? Who are you even?" Hermione said shrilly. She stared at the back of Ray's head as he stared into the flames, too.

"I will explain everything to you two in time. Harry was prophesized. I cannot help that you two feel left out." Hermione seethed silently feeling as if he had missed the entire point of her anger. She leaned back into the soft couch feeling more alone than ever. Ron sidled closer to her, wrapping an arm around her shoulder. He whispered something in her ear that seemed to calm her down Harry noticed, but he didn't bother listening too closely.

The flames dwindled into the night as Harry and Ray stared into the dying flames. The coals became more pronounced, eventually becoming the only source of light in the cooling house. Ron and Hermione had fallen asleep behind him, but he had other things on his mind.

"Should we go kill him? Voldemort, I mean," Harry inquired. Ray knew the question would come.

"It is up to you. If you seek vengeance, it is yours. I only ask you do not endanger the lives of your two companions. I fear the energy within you is damaging to the human body."

"And am I not human any longer?" Harry asked feeling put out at the potential of being ostracized by his species.

They sat in silence for some minutes before he answered. "I do not know." Ray had never had a pupil like Harry. He feared him in some ways. He noticed things others would have left alone, and something else . . . but he had forgotten, the first time in some millennia.

Harry's thoughts swirled on Hermione exclamation earlier. How could he have forgotten about his parents? An unsettling thought touched his consciousness before he shrugged off the topic.

"How strong am I?" Harry asked, the coals having dimmed considerably.

"Physically? Like a schoolgirl," Ray said, cracking a rare smile. "Magically, however, I would put you at half my strength." It was a lie. Harry had grown stronger than him in the past week, but he had hoped his desperate attempt at making a companion would not be his downfall. He never cared of the lives lost to some tiny speck named Voldemort. But the times did grow lonesome, and the others had left him long ago.

"I figure it is only right I end Voldemort's existence before he takes the lives of others. Although I cannot entirely see why it is important, I feel my old self would have deemed it a morally upstanding thing to do."

"And when do you plan to do this?"

Harry had contemplated that very question for the past hour. He closed his eyes, fully realizing what it would mean for him. "In an hour." He moved to get up, but Ray's hand shot out and grabbed his wrist.

"Are you positi—"

"Yes," Harry interrupted, shrugging him off.

Harry walked to his room, looking at the collection of clothes Hermione had packed in her enchanted bag. He changed into comfortable pants and a shirt and moved to lay on the bed.

His mind silently ticked the seconds off as he counted down to his departure. The earth spun, and the sun rose. As it peaked over the edge of earth, Harry stood.

It was time.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Harry apparated out of the house silently. Staring the direction he knew the castle lay waiting, he began walking. The dew was cool on the grass. He breathed in the air.

 _It was refreshing to have purpose,_ he thought. Learning about his newfound abilities with Ray was exciting, but Harry missed his old life.

He walked to the center of Hogsmeade. He encountered only two people in the village. Harry saw the wards before the gates to Hogwarts shining bright blue, a sphere surrounding the school grounds. He stared at the school's towers in the distance longingly. He was no longer the Harry Potter that had left.

Harry put his hand to the rusted gate. Its appearance did not give away its strength; it buzzed with enchantments. He gently pulled on the creaking metal and walked through the wards. Already the familiar smells brought a pang of longing as the smoke from Hagrid's chimney drift to his nose.

Harry made his way up the rolling hills to the castle not bothering to stop by and say hello knowing the prodding questions the half-giant would have. The quidditch hoops stayed in his peripheral as he marched closer to the school not daring a glance at them for fear he might never leave.

The stone steps were in front of him now. The school was silent as if empty; the day had not yet started. Harry slipped inside the oak doors, listening to his quick footsteps echo in the entrance hall. Looking up, he stared mesmerized at the swinging staircases, already seeming to forget the minute details that made the castle home.

Footsteps jogged him from his transfixion; he quickly ducked behind a suit of armor casting a light bending charm on himself to make his body invisible. His quick breaths could still be heard as the face of Professor McGonagall rounded the corner. She paused and stared his direction as he tried to steady his racing heart. She dismissed her suspicion and turned to walk away, Harry feeling slightly lightheaded from holding his breath.

Reconsidering his plan, Harry raised his wand and point the wooden tip towards his face. Letting the magic fall from his tongue, he felt the familiar rippling that Polyjuice Potion gave only this time, he didn't bother with alchemy. Stepping into the light once more, Harry emerged a tall and angry looking man swathed in black—Professor Snape. He passed by two more teachers on his way to Dumbledore's study nodding imperceptibly to each.

He stared. The door in front of him was locked. Calming his mind, he thought back to what Ray had taught him. _Small movements spark big change,_ he remembered his mentor saying. Closing his eyes, Harry reached forward with his mind, feeling at the faint enchantment on the door. Worming his way through it, he pushed the lock forward.

 _Click_. The door opened as Harry tugged on it gently. Looking both ways down the hall, he shuffled into the room. In front of him a spiraling staircase was rotating upwards and around a bend. Stepping onto the moving steps, he thought back to what he would ask the old man.

Reaching the top, he stepped off and stared at the solid oak door in front of him. A muffled voice came from behind the door before it swung open. Standing in blue robes was Albus Dumbledore.

"Hello, Severus. I didn't expect to see you so early," the old wizard said. Harry smiled at him and stepped into the room. He sat at the cluttered desk while the wizard tinkered on something behind him.

"Do you know where Voldemort is?" he asked abruptly. Dumbledore turned around from a pot of tea on a hidden away stove.

"Wonderful inventions, aren't they? Stoves, the muggles call them," Dumbledore replied, swirling his tea with a swish of his finger, apparently forgetting his magical abstinence in tea-related matters. Harry stared at the man.

"And no, Severus, I do not know where Voldemort is," Dumbledore said sitting down. He took a sip from the cup before setting it on the desk. "Why do you ask?"

"Curiosity," Harry replied, drawling on the word. The headmaster hummed an affirmative before taking another sip.

"I do think I may have found something, though," Dumbledore said. "It's not much, but Voldemort's father's house may hold a clue to his whereabouts. I was planning on going at the end of this week to check around, but who knows in these times."

"I want him dead," Harry said surprising himself with his sudden hatred.

"I know you do. We all do."

Silence swallowed the room as Dumbledore seemed content to sip on his tea. Harry stood up, the black cape of the professor he was masquerading swishing. Walking to the door, he turned to say his thanks before being interrupted by the man.

"And Severus," Dumbledore said. "Do not go playing in a game with no winner."

Harry left the school before most students were in the Great Hall. They all seemed so happy, he thought, but didn't they know? Life is meaningless; all light will be extinguished in the Grand Timeline.

The dismal thoughts seemed to temper the sky's mood as rain cloud moved in. A boom of thunder was all it took for Harry to set off at a brisk run. Not even becoming the greatest wizard alive could make getting soaked in the rain a happy experience.

"Professor!" A booming voice sounded to Harry's right. "What're you doin' on the grounds these times? I'd figure you'd be gettin' class ready," the half-giant said.

Harry silently cursed himself for forgetting to remove his enchanted disguise.

"Private business," he said in what he hoped was a convincing voice before turning on his heel and walking at a determinedly purposeful walk. Hagrid's eyes bored into the back of the professor thinking something was not quite right with the man before turning back to feeding his sow.

The gate came into view as the school became distant behind him. He turned to stare at the quidditch fields. The tall hoops stood over the horizon, beckoning him to come back. He turned to worm his way through the enchantments, holding back a lone tear that seemed ready to fall.

The feeling of water rushing over his skin told him he had passed through the enchantments, now free to apparate. He focused on Voldemort's birthplace despite having never seen it. Praying he would not go awry, he spun on his heel. The world twisted for a second before righting itself.

He stood before a broken shack with barely enough left to have once been considered a house. Harry eye's gleamed with enhanced magical precision, but there was no sign of magical tampering. This was done by hand.

Harry kneeled before the cracked foundation and picked up a stone which looked to have once been part of a wall. He looked at it for faults, but it had none. Carefully phrasing the bit of magic, he cast an enchantment upon it to create an echo had happened here.

Placing the rock in the center of the rubble, he stepped back as he saw the magic begin working. Blue light was flickering in and out of existence as if a hidden projector was warming up. An old man was shuffling in what Harry imagined was once the kitchen. He began slicing something before turning around red in the face and shouting. The knife in his hand was pointed at someone he could tell, but the person wasn't being shown for some reason.

Harry tried to reason why his spelled hadn't shown everyone, but was interrupted. A shadow loomed over his crouched position. Looking back, he saw what looked to be half of the ministry and Dumbledore behind him.

"Harry? What are you doing here?" Dumbledore asked concerned. "And what happened to your eyes?" The old man took a concerned step forward before reconsidering. The wizards behind him had their wands raised ready to blast him to nothingness. _Aurors_ , he assumed.

"I… I thought this was where Voldemort was born. I wanted to see if there was anything I could learn to defeat him that was left in the home," Harry said. He gestured back at the rough pile of rock.

Dumbledore stared at him for a moment before drawing his wand and slashing it through the air before Harry could react. Hot air knocked him back a step. Dumbledore frowned.

"That should have revealed who you were," the old man muttered to himself. He stared at the boy with his piercing blue eyes that seemed to know all the secret Harry held. Ray had taught him of legilimens and how to protect against them. He quickly threw up his mental barriers as the wizard's frowned deepened.

The two were locked in silent battle till Dumbledore straightened and looked back at the entourage that he had led here.

"It seems I've only got a loose student on my hands. Not a death eater," he said dismissively. The aurors seemed to believe him as they milled about getting ready to apparate away, but Harry thought he heard a hint of doubt in the wizard's voice.

 _Who does he think I am?_ Harry thought to himself concerned at being perceived a threat. The pops of the aurors disapparating eventually ceased leaving Dumbledore and Harry perfectly alone.

"What happened to your eyes?" Dumbledore asked. Harry thought of a story quickly not wanting to tell the man the truth.

"When I left school two weeks ago, I thought I'd found a way to defeat Voldemort. I went to an old man who promised me so much, but he only turned me away in the end. I had left defeated but Ron and Hermione seemed to think he had done something to me. The second morning after, they told me about what had happened to my eyes. The man marked me I think, for what I don't know."

The old man twirled the end of his beard between his fingers as he listened to the story. Plausible, he thought. He had made much the same mistake many years past with Grindelwald by his side. Power had been a tantalizing prospect then, remembering the feeling like an almost forgotten dream.

"Come with me to Hogwarts, Harry. We have much talking to do."


	6. Story Closed

**Chapter 6**

I will be abandoning this story.

What you all have read has been very short, but I would like for you to review the story. The mistakes or faults you've found in my writing and plot are invaluable, and I'd appreciate you letting me know what you thought.

Thank you, and all the best!


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